The Observatory

Copenhagen Watch: Haggling at Halftime

With scoops hard to come by, journalists converge on the latest rifts

By Curtis Brainard and Cristine Russell   Dec 11, 2009 at 03:04 PM

"The battle of the drafts has begun," The Washington Post's Juliet Eilperin announced at the top of her Friday article... More

Copenhagen Watch: Disarray in Denmark?

With its first leaked document, the climate summit warms up

By Curtis Brainard and Cristine Russell   Dec 9, 2009 at 02:48 PM

The big news out of Copenhagen yesterday was the leak of an informal agreement drafted by the Danish government. The... More

Copenhagen Coverage Watch: “Hopenhagen?”

After weeks of pessimism, coverage of summit opening shows optimism

By Curtis Brainard and Cristine Russell   Dec 7, 2009 at 05:30 PM

As delegates from 192 countries descended on Copenhagen for the start of the United Nations climate treaty talks today, the... More

Copenhagen’s “Climate Pool”

Eleven international news agencies launch Facebook blog

By Curtis Brainard   Dec 4, 2009 at 03:35 PM

The Associated Press and ten other international news agencies have launched “The Climate Pool,” a Facebook page that they hope... More

Hacked E-mails and “Journalistic Tribalism”

Climate coverage is imperfect, but is it ideologically biased?

By Curtis Brainard   Dec 3, 2009 at 06:53 PM

In a column for USA Today on Tuesday, Jonah Goldberg argued that the mainstream press hasn’t given enough attention to... More

Breaking the Glass Ceiling, Scientifically

Scientific American names Mariette DiChristina first female EIC

By Sara Germano   Dec 3, 2009 at 04:10 PM

Scientific American, the United States’s oldest continuously published magazine, today announced the appointment of Mariette DiChristina as the eighth and... More

FDA Pressed on Interview Policy

By Clint Hendler   Dec 2, 2009 at 02:52 PM

Today, a coalition of media organizations including the Association of Health Care Journalists and the National Association of Science Writers... More

Spock Crock

AP piece shows what happens when a narrative gets ahead of a story

By Greg Marx   Dec 1, 2009 at 02:03 PM

Yesterday’s narrative-perpetuating Politico item on stories the president doesn’t want told seems to be, to borrow a phrase, “driving the... More

Saving Corwin’s Creatures

MSNBC wades into new territory with environmental documentary 100 Heartbeats

By Curtis Brainard   Nov 20, 2009 at 10:31 AM

While filming his new documentary, 100 Heartbeats, Jeff Corwin cut off the horn of a black rhino to protect it... More

Trains, Planes, and Carbon Offsets

Times keeps a needed eye on green premiums

By Curtis Brainard   Nov 18, 2009 at 01:31 PM

This week, The New York Times published two much-needed articles questioning the value of programs that let consumers pay a... More

Newsweek, API, and Ethics

What guidelines should govern advertiser-sponsored events?

By The Editors   Nov 17, 2009 at 01:48 PM

Last week, news reports revealed that, since 2007, Newsweek has sold advertising packages to the American Petroleum Industry--the oil and... More

Criticism of Gladwell Reaches Tipping Point

By Terry McDermott   Nov 17, 2009 at 12:03 PM

Criticism of Malcolm Gladwell, the bestselling New Yorker writer, seems to be reaching – yes! – a tipping point. The... More

Plimer, “Balance as Bias” Back in Climate Coverage

By Curtis Brainard   Nov 13, 2009 at 04:49 PM

That old nuisance, “balance as bias,” cropped up in the press again on Thursday in an article in the Telegraph... More

Government Programs Don’t Always Increase the Deficit

By Greg Marx   Nov 13, 2009 at 11:50 AM

The federal budget deficit, it seems, is back on the White House’s agenda. David Brooks, in his column today, asserted... More

The Fate of Former P-I Employees

By Curtis Brainard   Nov 12, 2009 at 04:31 PM

Ruth Teichroeb, who worked as an investigative reporter for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer from 1997 until its demise in March, is... More